“NewsWrap"
for the week ending October 13, 2007
(As broadcast on "This Way Out" program #1,020, distributed 10-15-07)
[Written by Greg Gordon, with thanks to Graham Underhill,
and Rex Wockner with Bill Kelley]
Reported this week by Tanya Kane-Parry and Christopher Gaal
Thousands of LGBT people and their supporters in Singapore are calling for the government to decriminalize gay sex. The parliament plans to consider the first overhaul of criminal law later this month in the conservative city-state in almost a quarter century.
Under proposed changes, oral and anal sex between consenting heterosexual adults would no longer be considered an offense. But the same acts between men, covered by penal code Section 377A, will remain illegal. Conviction could lead to a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
An Internet petition to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong protesting the continued outlawing of consensual adult gay sex was launched by several LGBT groups in early October, and had gathered nearly 2,500 signatures within its first several days online. While most chose to stay anonymous, many people who signed on responded to the petition's request to include their names and those of their employers. They included multinational company executives, engineers and teachers.
Petition organizer Alan Seah said in a statement that by maintaining Section 377A, "we are in fact moving backwards, which defeats the government's goals of updating our criminal laws to keep in step with Singapore's image as a modern and forward thinking country."
According to the “Associated Press,” Singapore's Prime Minister told a local university forum last month that “What people do in private is their own business, [but] in public, certain norms apply," and that changing the law would be "a very divisive argument. We will not reach consensus however much we discuss it.”
The government has insisted that it would not actively prosecute private consensual adult homosexual acts, but, the online petition argues, "It is the responsibility of any democratically elected government to protect minorities from the 'tyranny of the majority'... Far more conservative countries have done away with laws like these and are none the worse for it."
Another Singapore activist, Alex Au, told reporters that while he was pleased by the response, “online petitions don't have a very stellar history of effectiveness.”
Singapore celebrities supporting the campaign to dump the anti-gay law also appear in a rap video posted on the “YouTube” Web site. "Repeal it!" the video proclaims, ending with the words: "It's not just a gay thing. It's about equality."
Using the Internet to communicate their concerns seems to be the only option available to Singapore's LGBT communities and their supporters. The government shut down several Pride week events earlier this year, including a human rights forum, photo exhibit, and “fun run” and picnic in a downtown park, claiming that each disturbed public order.
But inclement weather couldn't rain on the 18th annual Pride parade in Johannesburg, South Africa on October 6th - although participants did brave cold temperatures and light rain, marching and riding on more than 30 floats and vehicles into Zoo Park for a somewhat muddy post-parade rally and concert. Some marched with paper bags over their heads to avoid being identified, while many others dressed in typically festive Pride parade attire. Organizers estimated the crowd at about 5,000, which they said included many families. A press release said that, “as if on cue,” the rain mostly let up during the 90-minute march.
A minute of silence was held at the post-parade rally to remember the victims of anti-queer violence. Pride organizer Tracey Sandilands challenged “everyone here to speak out against prejudice wherever they find it. It's time to take our stand against the pockets of homo-prejudice that still exist in our society.”
And about 150 people, mostly lesbians, marched past the local Meadowlands township police station in late September to protest escalating queer-bashing attacks in Johannesburg's large, black Soweto district. Marchers wore shirts with slogans like “Dying for Justice” and "Pissed off woman." The protestors demanded better protection from homophobic assaults.
In July, lesbians Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa were tortured and raped, shot to death, and dumped in a Meadowlands field. Police have yet to make any arrests.
March organizer Phumla Masuku told reporters that, "This is my home and I also have the right to be here... We fear being raped and even murdered, but I'm tired of running."
Thousands of LGBT people and their supporters marched through Taiwan's capital of Taipei on October 13th demanding respect and equality. Pride marchers filled downtown streets carrying traditional rainbow flags, balloons and banners. Some dressed in flamboyant period costumes, while others wore only skimpy bathing suits despite the cool, windy weather. A rally and concert outside Taipei City Hall capped off the festivities.
One of the organizers, Wang Ping, Secretary-General of Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan, complained about stalled legislation, drafted by the government in 2003, to establish anti-bias protections and open marriage and adoption to same-gender couples.
Critics claim that the measures were drafted at the time only to gain the electoral support of the LGBT community.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office issued a statement late this week saying that the Committee on Education and Labor would proceed with consideration of a sexual orientation-only version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the coming week, with a floor vote on the measure expected the week after that. The statement followed a meeting between members of Pelosi's senior staff and representatives of a 284-member coalition of LGBT groups that had won a brief delay in the process after expressing strong opposition to any form of ENDA that doesn't include a prohibition on gender identity discrimination. While activists have been fighting for federal workplace anti-bias protections covering sexual orientation for more than 30 years, the coalition believes that dropping the more recently added “gender identity” from the bill both leaves transgender people unprotected and seriously diminishes protections for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people.
In an interview this week with the “Washington Blade” LGBT newspaper, Pelosi echoed the assertion by lead House sponsor Barney Frank of Massachusetts that an "all or nothing" strategy is unworkable, and that “we might as well just go home, because it doesn't always happen all at once." Brad Luna, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, which has been roundly criticized for not joining the unified coalition of LGBT groups opposed to an ENDA without transgender protections, told the LGBT “Bay Area Reporter” newspaper that his group "got an agreement" from the Speaker to bring a separate bill offering gender identity protections up for a vote at a later date when there's enough support for it. But many analysts believe that President George W. Bush will veto any form of ENDA that reaches his desk.
Legislation pending in Guatemala's Congress would define "family" solely as a father, a mother and their child or children.
The Integral Protection for Marriage and Family Act would bar single parents and same-gender couples from the definition of "family," and punish any official in the Central American nation who publicly contradicts that definition.
In a press release this week, Human Rights Watch said that the measure "would declare that nearly 40 percent of Guatemalan families... are not families at all." HRW LGBT-rights researcher Juliana Cano Nieto charged that "Targeting children and their caregivers in the name of a political agenda is not only unjustifiable, it is morally reprehensible."
California's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as expected, this week vetoed the second marriage equality bill in two years to be passed by the Democrat-controlled state legislature. His veto message was the same as in 2005: only a public referendum or state Supreme Court decision can open legal marriage to same-gender couples. California's top court is expected to rule on that issue next year.
But finally, the popular syndicated advice columnist known as “Dear Abby” told the “Associated Press” this week that she fully supports marriage equality for same-gender couples. “I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em. That is the highest form of commitment, for heaven's sake,” said Jeanne Phillips. She took over the long-running “Dear Abby” column from her mother Pauline five years ago when the woman known as “Abigail Van Buren” was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
The younger Phillips, who prefers to be called “Abby” as her mother was, received the first “Straight for Equality” award this week from Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a U.S. group that, like similar organizations around the world, advocates for and offers support to LGBT people and their families. She continues in the footsteps of the original “Abby,” who helped publicize the existence of P-FLAG in 1984 when she referred a distraught parent in her column to the fledgling organization.
“I'm trying to tell kids if they are gay, it's OK to be gay,” said the current “Abby”. “I've tried to tell families if they have a gay family member to accept them and love them as they always have.”
Phillips said she isn't worried that speaking out on the marriage issue will cause editors to censor or cancel her column, which appears in about 1,400 newspapers around the world, adding that “If gay Americans are not allowed to get married and have all the benefits that American citizens are entitled to by the Bill of Rights, they should get one hell of a tax break. That is my opinion,” she said. “I'm for treating each other with respect, trying to do the best you can.”
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